


It Happens In Movies

by ailaikannu



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Drama because you know me, F/F, I don't know why I get these ideas, NOBODY DIES BECAUSE FCK THIS SHT, car crash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-09-01 21:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8638795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ailaikannu/pseuds/ailaikannu
Summary: The phone rings at four in the morning. You wake up and anxiety suddenly hits you : your girlfriend is not sleeping next to you. You pick up and a voice you don't recognize talks to you.ORMy brain likes to think of terrible things that could happen, so... Here you go.P.S : Nobody dies because I'm not a monster.





	1. Someone's Calling You

It happens in movies, you know.

You’re sleeping, your phone is charging on your nightstand, everything’s okay. Then your phone lights up, starts vibrating, someone’s calling you. You wake up scoffing, trying to rub the sleep off your eyes and grab your phone. You don’t even look at the screen before picking up, it’s four in the morning, you don’t even think about it.

A voice you’ve never heard before says something along the lines of “This is whatever hospital, a person you love has been in an accident.” Your heart stops and you bolt to your feet. You are dressing yourself before you know it, and already heading towards the car before the speaker can even begin to tell you what happened.

You’re at the hospital in record time, running through its hallways, screaming for their name. Maybe the classical “they’re in surgery”, might happen, or “you can’t see them right now”, which are only going to make your heart heavier. You sit there in the waiting room, hoping to see a doctor soon enough.

Before it happens, you have no idea it’s going to happen. You don’t go to bed thinking that your phone is going to wake you in the middle of the night with that kind of call. You know it can happen, but you never think it’s going to actually happen to you.

I certainly didn’t expect it.

It was a lovely day. I woke up pretty early, and went for a run. The sun felt amazing on my skin as I ran, music flowing through my ears. I got back to my apartment to take a shower, which turned out to be a bit longer than expected. I made myself some breakfast, the usual, cup of tea and some eggs and then I got ready for work.

I worked the whole morning and then headed to meet my girlfriend for lunch at our favourite place.

“Hey.” She said, kissing me lightly on the lips. “How was work ?”

I smiled at her as we both sat down. “It was alright, nothing really happened. What about you ?”

“I spent the morning painting in my studio.” She explains. “I probably still have paint on my hair.”

“It’s okay, you know I like it.”

“Yes.” She laughed. “Because you’re a weirdo.”

“Am I ?” I asked her. She nodded her head. “Well, you got yourself a weirdo, then. I was thinking maybe we could get sushi for tonight and you could spend the night at my place?”

She looked sad for a moment. “You can’t do that to me !” She pouted and I felt confused for a second. “Remember the damn dinner and drinks with Octavia and Raven ?”

“Don’t tell me it’s tonight.”

“It is !” She looked positively disappointed. “I completely forgot about it, Octavia said something about it this morning and I fell from the clouds.”

“You always seem to forget everything. I guess I’ll call Anya and Lincoln to join me for sushi night.” I smirked at her. “Oh, and I’ll send you lots of pictures.”

She frowned. “I hate you.”

“You’re going to have fun, don’t worry.”

We both needed to leave soon and I got up to pay for our lunch as she made a phone call. When I got back, she smiled at me.

“I’ll call you later ?” She asked.

“Yeah, of course.” We kissed before parting to go back to our jobs. My afternoon was pretty boring after that, luckily for me, Clarke seemed to feel it, because she kept sending me texts telling me random stuff.

**Your Lovely Girlfriend           2.16 p.m**

Do you think penguins have knees ?

                                                 2.25 p.m

Can a jellyfish grab things and take

them around with those tentacles ?

                                                  3.10 p.m

Are you ignoring me or is it ignorance

 that makes you avoid my texts ?

**Lexa T-Rexa                                3.15 p.m**

                                                                                                                 I don’t know if penguins have knees, 

but I’m pretty sure they don’t.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        You know I hate those damn jelly

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   things, so don’t even get me

                                                                                                                                                                                                  started on that…

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ignorance, it’s definitely ignorance.

 

I got back from work at around 6 p.m, and got ready for my dinner with Anya and Lincoln. We ate way too much sushi, saying it was needed because our girlfriends were out clubbing and drank a tad too much wine, for the same exact reason.

That’s why when I got to bed last night, or rather, when I passed out on the couch, with Anya by my side and Lincoln sleeping on a chair, don’t even ask my why, I didn’t expect my phone to ring in the middle of the night.

But it did.

My phone went off at around four thirty in the morning, waking me up, then Lincoln and, lastly, even Anya. We were all confused by the sound at first, but I picked up my phone without even the slight feeling that something bad might had happened.

“Hello ?” I said, trying to sound as awake as possible.

“Is this Mrs Woods ?”

It was that moment that made me start panicking. When I realized it was almost five in the morning and I hadn’t gotten any texts from Clarke since the last selfie of them doing tequila shots at two in the morning, almost three hours prior to that phone call. It was then that my heart stopped and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I bolted to my feet, making sure I was enough awake to hear what this person had to tell me.

“Yes, this is she.” I could feel my voice trembling and my cousins’ eyes on me. I saw Anya reaching for her phone with the corner of my eye and Lincoln mimicking what she was doing a bit later. No texts for them either.

“This is Madison, from Ark Memorial. You’re listed as the emergency contact for Mrs Clarke Griffin.”

My heart definitely stopped at that. “What happened, is she okay ?”

“She was in an accident, she was brought in a while ago.”

“Is she okay ?”

“Right now she’s in surgery, but you should come down as soon as you can.”

I didn’t even let her finish the sentence before hanging up and bolting towards my apartment door. Anya and Lincoln were both behind me as I ran towards the car, both trying to call their girlfriends.

Nobody has picked up yet as I frantically pulled up in the hospital parking lot, finding a spot soon enough and basically throwing my car there. We all ran towards the entrance of the E.R and I immediately asked for the woman who called me.  We found her soon enough and she was suddenly talking about a car crash and other stuff I didn’t understand.

“Is she okay ? Were her friends with her ?”

“She’s still in surgery and there were six people involved in the crash. Two deaths.”

I slowly turned around to face both Anya and Lincoln and I swear the world was going in slow motion. I believe I could see every emotion running through their faces. Two deaths. I knew none of them was Clarke, but how could they know it wasn’t Octavia or Raven ?

 


	2. Waiting Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm a bit late, sorry guys...

So now I’m here.

Sitting on the most uncomfortable chair I’ve her sat on. It’s incredibly hot in here, or maybe I’m just going crazy. Looking at my brother and my cousin pacing back and forth, asking any person wearing scrubs if they’ve seen Octavia and Raven.

Nobody seems to know shit.

Madison said I need to wait for doctor Larson to come and find me. I keep getting up and sitting back down, sometimes I walk around for a while, but I’m always too scared of wandering because I need this damn doctor Larson to come and find me.

I need to know what happened. I need to know that Clarke’s okay.

Madison only told us that there was a car crash, that involved the girls’ taxi and another car. Apparently, the person driving the other car was blacked out drunk and hit their car, sending them flying. Their taxi ended up upside down.

The waiting room feels like hell. There are doctors coming and going, people crying, people happy when their loved ones are safe. I see other people with fear in their eyes. Like us, they still don’t know what happened. They hope everything’s going to be alright, but actually dread the moment the doctor will come and talk to them.

Because not knowing is safer. You can hope your loved one is okay. You can hold onto hope and convince yourself that everything is going to be alright. Then the doctor comes and you feel everything falling apart, because you can’t hope anymore. If it’s bad, it’s bad.

There’s a moment, I’m on my third Red Bull, when I see Madison rushing towards us. It’s eight in the morning, maybe nine. I’m not sure. All I know is that we’ve been here for three, possibly four hours and we still don’t know shit about them.

“I finally found them all.” She says.

We look at her expectantly.

“Raven Reyes just got out of surgery, a doctor is coming to talk to you soon.” She says and I can hear Anya relaxing beside me. I believe she’s just remembered she needs to breathe.  “Octavia Blake is already in her room, I think you might be allowed to see her once the doctor gets here.”

She walks away after we thank her and then a doctor comes and talks to Anya and I’m pretty sure I hear him saying something about Raven’s leg. I’m not sure what, though. Anya hurriedly follows him to Raven’s room, while Lincoln and I are still waiting. I think she comes back one hour later, saying Raven needs to rest and she needs a drink. Too bad it’s ten thirty in the morning.

“Is she okay ?” I ask her.

“The doctor told me one of her legs is basically paralyzed. I thought considering the accident was life threatening, it wouldn’t matter. I went to see her and… I don’t know. She looks different, she says she can’t accept it and that her life isn’t going to be the same anymore. She looked darker. I think she sees this as worse than being dead. I hate to see her like this. It’s terrifying.”

I feel bad. “I’m sorry, Anya.”

“I’m just glad she’s alive.” She sighs and plops back down on a chair.

I sit down next to her, holding her hand, looking at Lincoln pacing back and forth. The fear of the unknown is clear in his eyes, as much as it is in mine.

“Lexa Woods ?” A voice asks and I jerk awake. How long have I been asleep for ? Lincoln is not here anymore and nor is Anya.

“I’m the surgeon who operated on your girlfriend.” He begins. I am trying to look at his face, trying to decipher what he’s thinking. “Mrs. Griffin’s surgery was long and complicated. She had a pretty severe brain bleed and a collapsed lung, the crash took a huge toll on her body.”

I don’t like the tone of his voice. I don’t like it at all. It’s sympathetic. It’s not what I want to hear right now.

“We managed to fix her lung, but the brain bleed was worse than we expected it to be, she’s in a coma and we’re not sure when or if she’s going to wake up.” He says. “I’m sorry.”

“A coma ?”

The magic word you never want to hear when someone’s talking about your loved ones.

“The first twenty-four hours are critical; we’ll keep a close eye on her. You can go see her now.” The doctor says.

I hate the stupid sympathetic look on his face, but I nod my head and follow him to Clarke’s room. He opens the door for me and I’m suddenly surrounded by sounds and colours I just want to forget.

The beeping sound of her heart monitor.

The blinding white of the walls.

The mechanical sound of the machine that helps her breathe.

The dim neon lights that surround her.

The countless tubes coming from and going into her body. I feel my knees giving in, but I use all the strength I have to walk over to Clarke.

She looks peaceful.

And damaged.

I sit down on the chair right next to her bed and grab her hand to hold. It’s colder than usual, but I don’t mind.

“Hey, love.” I whisper. My voice is slightly shaking and I’m afraid I’m going to cry. “You’re going to be alright, okay ? I’m here and I won’t leave until you can leave with me. Don’t worry.”

I hear the door closing behind me and I know I’m alone with Clarke.

“You hang in there, alright ?” My voice is like a foreign sound to my ears. “Octavia and Raven are fine, Raven needed surgery for her leg, but she’ll be fine. Anya said one of her legs is paralyzed and… You know Raven, she didn’t take it well. The accident you were in was life threatening, I guess losing a leg isn’t that bad if you think about what could have happened… ”

I’ve never wanted anything more in my life than to see her opening her eyes.


	3. Critical

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see !   
> I'm really sorry guys, life has been... Difficult. I'm trying.  
> Hope you enjoy !

I haven’t been able to sleep since the doctor came to talk to me.

I haven’t left Clarke’s side either. I’ve been in her room for I think ten hours and I wanted to go see both Octavia and Raven before it gets too late. I’m currently walking towards Octavia’s room and I find Lincoln next to her door, talking on the phone. He smiles at me and gestures towards the room, I open it and let myself in.

Octavia is sitting up on her bed, from what I can see she has a cast on her shoulder and a weird thing with strings that keeps her hand up. I guess she broke her fingers as well.

“Hey.” I say, softly. She looks at me for a second before bursting into tears.

“I’m sorry.” She says, wiping away her tears. “I just… It’s unfair. Clarke is in a damn coma, Raven lost a leg and I’m just here with a few broken bones.”

“Octavia, it’s okay.” I whisper. “They’ll be okay.”

She looks distressed, and I don’t want her to get too nervous. “How are you feeling ?”

“Sore, mostly. But I’m okay.” She says. “They won’t let me leave this damn room and I wish I could see both Clarke and Raven. What did the doctor say about Clarke ? Is she going to wake up soon ?”

Octavia looks like an innocent child right now. She’s looking at me with big, hopeful eyes and I feel like I’m going to crush her.

“Clarke had a collapsed lung, but they were able to fix it during surgery.” I tell her. “The thing they are worried about is her brain, though. The doctor told me she suffered a massive brain bleed and they’re not sure if she’ll ever wake up.”

I somehow managed to keep my voice steady for the whole explanation and now Octavia looks like a puppy that was kicked in the face.

She just stares at me for what feel like an eternity and I don’t know what to say.

Before talking, she takes a deep breath. “Do you think she’ll eventually wake up ?”

Her voice is shaking, but she’s trying to mask it with random coughs.

“I can’t picture myself living in a world where Clarke doesn’t wake up.”

“She’s Clarke.” Octavia whispers. “She’s stronger than this.”

I don’t know if she’s trying to convince herself or me. I know that Clarke is strong, I know that she’s a fighter, but… This was unexpected. I most definitely didn’t go to bed last night thinking I’d be called here because of a stupid accident.

“Have you seen Raven ?” Octavia asks after a while.

“Not yet.” I sigh. “I was thinking about going to see her after coming here. Anya said she’s… Well, she hasn’t taken it lightly.”

“I wish I could go visit her.” Octavia whispers.

“I’m sure she’d want to see you too.”

She nods. “You should go see her, maybe they’ll let me go as well later.”

“Yeah.” I get up and walk to the door. “I’ll see you later.”

I see her nodding with the corner of my eye and slowly walk towards Raven’s room. The moment I get there, I see Anya opening the door and looking at me with defeat in her face.

“I’m going to the cafeteria.” She simply says. “Need anything ?”

I smile weakly at her. “No, I’m good. Thanks.”

She pats me on the back. “Good luck.”

I’m a bit scared of seeing Raven, but I need to update her on Clarke. I know it won’t make her feel any better, but I still have to. I slowly open the door and find her laying on the bed with her back turned to me.

“I thought you were leaving.” She says. Her voice is cold, blood freezing.

“It’s Lexa.”

She sighs and adjusts herself to face me. “Hey.” Her voice sounds a bit more like her old voice.

I gesture towards the chair that’s near her bed and she nods her head. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted visitors, but I wanted to talk to you about Clarke.”

She nods again, closing her eyes for a second. “I know I’m being horrible to Anya, I just…”

“It’s okay.” I reassure her. “She knows.”

She takes a deep breath, as to keep herself from crying and closes her eyes again. “Clarke ?”

“She’s in a coma.” I begin. It’s so hard to say that damn word. “The doctor said she had a collapsed lung and that they were able to fix it, but the bleed in her brain was massive..”

Raven pursues her lips, her eyes still closed. “Is she going to wake up ?”

“They don’t know.” I sigh. “And I still need to call her mother. I just… It’s too hard, but I need to.”

“Doesn’t she work here ?”

“Yeah, she does.” I tell her, scratching the back of my head. “I’m going to see if they can find her before heading back to Clarke’s room. Will you be okay ?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. Is Octavia okay ?”

I nod. “A bit worried, but she’s fine.”

Raven weakly smiles at me and then goes back to facing the window. I leave her alone, and walk towards the nurse station. In the commotion of last night and this morning I completely forgot to call Abby and I am now dreading this moment.

“Hello.” I say to the only nurse sitting at the desk. I remember her. She came earlier to do some bloodwork on Clarke.

She smiles at me. “Hello, how can I help you ?”

“I was wondering if you knew if doctor Abby Griffin was working today.”

“Let me check for you, darling.” She says, before looking at her computer. The sound of her fingers on the keys is terribly annoying, might be the tiredness, but I wish I could cut all her fingers off.

“Yes, she’s working. Do you need me to call her for you ?”

“Yes, please.”

“Your name ?”

“Lexa.” I take a deep breath. “Her daughter’s girlfriend.”

I think the seriousness of Clarke’s condition finally hits me when I see the nurse turning a sick shade of green and her mouth wide open as she frantically dials the numbers on the phone in front of her.


	4. She's Not Going Anywhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is super late, I'm really sorry about it.  
> When life's shit and you keep falling apart, writing about depressing stuff doesn't really help.  
> Here you go, though... Hope you guys enjoy and, please, let me know what you think about it !

After a while I see Abby running towards me, with tears streaming down her face.

“Lexa !” She says, before catching a breath. “What the hell happened ?”

I don’t know what’s worse : having to talk to Abby, or having to think once again about what happened. “Clarke, Octavia and Raven were in a car crash last night.” I tell her. “Clarke’s in a coma.”

She covers her mouth with her right hand, shaking profusely. “I need to see her.” She says, gesturing for me to take her to Clarke’s room.

Once we get there, Abby looks overwhelmed. I guess it’s the sight of her daughter in an hospital bed, covered in bruises, wired up to way too many machines, together with the blinding neon lights and the continuous beeping of Clarke’s heart monitor and her breathing machine.

She stays petrified for a few minutes before eventually walking towards Clarke. She grabs her hand and whispers something to her. I can’t quite hear what she’s saying, but she then kisses her forehead and grabs her chart. She reads it quickly, before sitting down in a chair and crying silently for a few moments. She then looks at me.

“This is serious.” She says.

I nod my head. “I know.”

We just stay there for what feels like an eternity, seeing countless nurses coming in, checking Clarke, and then walking back out. We say nothing, and just stare at Clarke’s seemingly lifeless body.

What bothers me is that they say coma patients look asleep. That’s what I was used to reading in books. Clarke looks dead. Her complexion is even lighter than usual. Her hair is messy, but it’s… It’s just not Clarke’s hair. Her body is limp, laying still on a way too white bed. Her legs never move. Her arms are just there. Her hands don’t squeeze back whenever I’m holding them. She’s not breathing by herself.

Clarke looks dead.

“I’m going to talk to her doctor whenever he comes in, I’m not a neurosurgeon and I need to know more about her condition.” Abby suddenly says.

I just nod.

“I’m sorry, Abby.”

She gets up and walks up to me. “It’s not your fault.”

“Sometimes I feel like it is. We knew they were drinking, we should have gone and picked them up.”

“Life is full of if’s, Lexa.” She says. “We can’t live thinking about what we could have done. What matters now is that she’s here, and she’s going to need all the support she can get from us. We need to be strong for her.”

Once again, I just nod.

“How are Octavia and Raven ?”

“They’re going to be fine. Octavia only suffered minor injuries, Raven’s leg has been compromised.”

Abby sighs loudly before walking back to her chair. “I’m glad Octavia’s okay and I really hope that Raven’s leg is going to be better. I’ll go see them once I get a chance to talk to Clarke’s doctor. We just sit there for what feels like ages before I finally decide to get up and get the both of us a cup of coffee.

As I walk to the cafeteria, I look around. For once, I’m not looking at the way too white walls, or the busy nurses and doctors running around. Or the blinding neon lights.

I’m looking at the people.

I’m looking at all the parents waiting to hear news about their children.

I’m looking at the husbands waiting for their wives.

I’m looking at the sisters crying for their brothers.

I’m looking at the people who look way too young to be here.

I feel lost.

Lost in a forest of beeping machines and breathing tubes. Lost in an ocean of tears and wasted words. Lost in a world of sadness and bad news.

I wish I could close my eyes and realize this was all a terrible nightmare.

When I do reach the cafeteria, I find both Anya and Lincoln sitting down, with giant cups of coffee standing in front of them.

They wait for me to get my own before gesturing for me to join them. I sit down, my body limp on the chair.

I’m exhausted.

“Abby ?” Anya inquires.

“Yeah, she’s with Clarke.”

She nods. “Raven still doesn’t want to see me.” 

“She told me she knows that she’s being horrible.” I tell her.

Anya nods again. “I just want to be by her side. I don’t want her to be alone.”

“You know how she is.” Lincoln says. “Sometimes she just needs to be by herself. I’m sure she’ll want you there soon enough.”

Anya sighs loudly. “I really hope seeing Octavia will make her better.”

I nod. “Yeah, knowing Raven it will. I’m sure she’s just really angry at the moment.”

We sit there for about fifteen more minutes, in silence. We’re surrounded by people, noises, laughter. We just sip our coffees, stealing worried glances every now and then.

I feel a bit on the edge, I feel the need to get back to Clarke, but dread the moment I’ll see her again as well.

Seeing her like this makes me feel sick.

My sweet Clarke… So full of energy, with no free time, with too many things to do. With paint constantly covering her clothes, with messy hair and smudged make up.

The person on that hospital bed is not Clarke.

Not the Clarke I’m used to.

She’s lost her soul, her bright spirit and I want it back.

I need it back.

I do eventually walk back to her room, with two cups of coffee in hand. I bought myself a second one, I’m sure I’m going to need it.

When I open the door, I find Abby sitting still on her chair.

“Have you been home yet ?” She asks.

“No, I don’t really feel like leaving her side.” I tell her, handing her her cup of coffee.

“Maybe you should, even for just one hour. Take a shower, change your clothes. She’s going to be here for quite a long time.” She says, her voice full of pain. “She’s not going anywhere.”


	5. Days and Years

Days now feel like years.

Clarke has been in a coma for eight days already.

Octavia was discharged the other day and Raven is still here. The growing concern for her leg is what is keeping her in here.

I leave Clarke’s room once a day, Abby is forcing me to get fresh hair every twenty-four hours. Every time I leave, I make her promise to never leave Clarke’s side and text me if anything unusual happens.

Nothing unusual has happened since I saw her the first time. She had a respiratory crisis three days in, but that’s about it. Nothing else has changed.

Which is good, but worrying as well.

No changes doesn’t only mean that she’s not getting worse, it means that she’s not getting better either.

I spend my days talking to Clarke, hoping that my voice will, somehow, soothe her slumber. I talk to her about Raven’s recovery and about the latest art shows in town. I talk to her about the food her mom forces me to eat from the cafeteria downstairs and about the wine Anya brings me sometimes at night.

I have her listen to some music, usually her favourite songs. When I’m feeling particularly down, especially at night, I sing to her.

I never thought I’d end up spending my days in the ICU. This room has kind of become like my home.

It’s pretty big, but I’m guessing ICU rooms are bigger in case of emergencies, which happen more often than it other wards. Three out of the four walls that compose it are white, the last one is made of glass. A nurse told me it’s because they need to see inside the rooms at all times and it kind of makes sense. Clarke’s bed is in the centre of the room, behind it are all the machines that are currently helping her survive, as well as her IV’s. There are two chairs in the room, one just for sitting, the other one can be used to sleep as well. It’s been my bed for the past week.

Time never passes in this room. It might be because I spend most of the time just basically talking to myself.

I’m trying to convince myself that she can actually hear me.

That whenever I talk to her, she actually listens and fights to say something back. That whenever I read to her, she’s thinking about all those afternoons spent drawing my stories. That whenever I have her listen to music, she remembers the nights spent singing loudly and off-tune. That whenever I cry, she wishes she could hold my hand. That whenever I snore in my sleep, she rolls her eyes and sighs loudly.

I’m trying to convince myself that she’ll open her eyes and that we’ll get to forget everything about this nightmare. That she’ll be okay and happy again. That I’ll bring her home and we’ll eat so much sushi we’ll be sick for a week.

One night, she actually squeezes my hand when I’m talking to her and I swear I almost have a heart attack.

“Don’t get too excited.” Abby says, her voice flat. “It’s normal, involuntary movements are pretty normal for coma patients. They're mostly spasms.”

My excitement dies a little, but my hope is stronger than it was before.

I won’t give up, I know she’ll be okay. I know we’ll go back to our normality.

Sometimes I need to get away from all of this and I enjoy walking around in the ward. There are many relatives in the same situation as me and I got to know most of them. We’re all desperate for small changes, but they never occur.

There’s Katie in room #301. Her husband, Thomas, fell down the roof while working with their nephew.

There’s Joshua in room #302. His twin sister, Angelica, had a stroke a few days after her twenty-fifth birthday.

There’s Oliver in room #304. His boyfriend, Lucas, was shot in the back of the head during a robbery.

There are Marie and Matthew in room #305. Their son, Evan, never woke up from a simple surgery he underwent a few weeks ago.

There’s Ashley in room #306. Her father, Albert, was in a car accident a few days ago.

There’s Mark in room #307. His brother, Jackson, had a seizure that lasted too long.

There are Jonathan and Rebecca in room #308. Their daughter, Alexis, overdosed on heroin.

There was Natalie in room #309. Her son, Jeremy, died last night after being in a coma for several days after a suicide attempt.

We see one another every single day and night, but never talk too much. There’s this sense of numbness and helplessness around us that’s almost suffocating. We always hope to see their loved ones opening their eyes and being fine, but it’s more common to hear violent beeping from machines telling us that things are only getting worse.

There’s this general feeling of panic whenever one of the machines goes on. We usually all get up abruptly and look around wide-eyed.

When Jeremy died, we all panicked.

It’s a fear we all have. A fear we all know too well. But it’s so silent in here. You never really expect something like this to happen.

They’re all sleeping. They’ll be fine.

That’s what we tell ourselves. That’s what we tell one another.

Jeremy’s death changed that. We saw that their condition is not preventing them from dying.

Death is a possibility.

A possibility I’m not willing to accept.


	6. It Happens

We’ve hit the two-week mark.

I’m sitting on my usual chair. My cup of coffee has now turned cold, I’m starting to hate this hospital coffee. Same goes with dry hospital muffins. And uncomfortable hospital chairs.

I’m talking to Clarke, telling her about the last book I’ve read. I know she knows everything about it, since I’ve been reading it out loud to her.

Soft music is playing, making this room a tad less depressive. 

And then it happens. I was starting to think it would never happen, till it actually does.

A light squeeze. She does it sometimes, but it’s never followed up by a distressed coughing sound. I was so focused on her hand that I didn’t even realize what is happening.

I quickly look at her and she’s slowly trying to open her eyes as she keeps coughing.  I freeze for a second before realizing what’s happening and calling for a doctor.

Two nurses come rushing in and a doctor follows them pretty quickly. They ask me to move, but I’m still trying to understand what’s going on.

After what feels like a second, they’re pulling out her breathing tube and asking her questions, while using a flashlight to check her eyes.

The doctor then turns to me, I’m still kind of shocked, with my mouth hanging open and wide eyed.

“You can try to talk to her, but I’m not sure she’ll be able to respond. She might be able to nod or communicate in other ways. We need to take her to get a CT scan, but you can stay with her until then. Don’t worry if she seems unfocused or if she just stares at you, it’s pretty normal. We’ll try something together, go sit down next to her.”

I just nod and basically run back to Clarke. She’s staring at me, I’m not even sure she knows who I am. The doctor is standing behind me, looking at how Clarke responds to me.

“Now, Clarke. We’re going to try something. Do you know who this is ?” He asks.

I’m scared and get even more frightened when Clarke just stares at me. I've seen this happen a lot in movies. The patient doesn't recognize the person standing next to them and they start an infinite process of getting their memory back. Sometimes it does and they live happily ever after, other times it doesn't and they drift apart. I'm terrified Clarke might now know who I am.

“Blink twice if you do.” He then says, and Clarke does blink twice. The doctor smiles at me and I feel relieved, as if a huge rock was taken off my chest. “Alright. I’ll have Lexa here grab your hand, do you think you can squeeze it ?”

I grab her hand, trying to be as gentle as possible. Clarke blinks again, and I feel her squeezing my hand. It’s soft, but I know it’s there.

“Alright, that’s good. Do you know where you are ?”

She blinks again. “Do you remember what happened to you ?”

She seems uncertain at first, but then blinks. She then looks terrified and looks at me with wide eyes.

“Octavia and Raven are both fine, love.” I smile slightly at her.

She looks relieved, and squeezes my hand once again. I could swear she did it harder than before.

“We’ll take you upstairs for a few tests, a CT scan and then we’ll see where to go from there. I’ll leave you two together for a while, alright ?”

Clarke blinks again and I thank the doctor. The moment he leaves the room, Clarke focuses back on me. She looks like she’s about to cry.

“It’s okay, love. You’ll be okay. I’m here.”

She nods ever so slightly and I smile at her. I know that this is going to be a long recovery, but we made it this far, there’s no point in turning back now.

For one hour or so, I talk to her. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks and a half, and it’s almost weird to get some kind of response now. She looks at me with curious eyes, sometimes nodding slightly or blinking when I say something that she seems to enjoy particularly.

When they do take her up for the tests, I feel lonely in her room. It’s the first time that I’ve been here without her in that bed. The room almost feels too big. 

They bring her back after a while, and tell us both that her doctor will come and see us right after he’s done examining the results. He comes in after about two hours with her chart in hand.

“With brain injuries, it’s always hard to tell if there’s any permanent damage.” He begins. “Your scans look good, Clarke, but you’ve been in a coma for a little bit over two weeks and we don’t know yet if you’ve had permanent damage, there's no way for us to know. We don’t know when or if you’ll be able to speak, or when or if you’ll regain full mobility. The recovery is going to be long and painful, as it always is with brain injuries. Your path looks promising, though, I wouldn’t worry too much. You'll be followed by some of our best physiotherapists and speech therapists, nothing to worry about.”

He then leaves her room, promising to move Clarke from this ICU room to a regular room once one becomes available.

As days go by, Clarke’s progress becomes clear.

She starts moving her hands freely, and then she manages to sit up on her own, without complaining of any kind of pain.

She then starts making sounds, and then she finally begins saying words. She starts with single words, trying her best to help us understand what she needs or wants. The first complete sentence she says is:

“Lexa, water please.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to hear her calling my name. I am not even ashamed to say that I cried when I heard my name coming out of her mouth.

The physiotherapist is with her every single day, followed by her speech therapist. They said she’s basically going to have to re-learn how to do everything, as if she were a baby. Sometimes, she cries at night. On the hardest days, she keeps saying that she's in constant pain and I'm there to reassure her that she's going to make it. 

From day two, her physiotherapist helps her walk from her bed to a chair that’s next to the window in her new room. She cries the first time she actually gets up and I cry too. She cries out of pain, I cry out of pride.

By day seven, I’m walking with her around the ward. She still needs her walker, but she’s doing it by herself. We have to stop every once in a while, but she seems to be strong enough. She talks to me, which is a huge change in our daily routine and replies to me anytime I tell her one of my stories.

I know that this rehabilitation is taking a huge toll on her, but I never thought I’d seen her regain this kind of strength. I was hopeless, imagining a life of hospitals and a comatose Clarke. I most definitely didn’t see us in our home in the near future.

And yet, here we are.

It’s day twenty-two after Clarke came out of her coma. We’re walking to my car. She has a cane to help her walk, she still stutters on some words and sometimes forgets what she wanted to say, but she’s okay.

She’s alive.

And I’m taking her home, just like it happens in movies.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, guys... This is the end !   
> Thanks for all the nice comments and I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it ! If you're interested, I just published a new work, it goes by the name of Rock Bottom and it's a prison au.


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